Calling an electrician

[georgelesley]

We have a 2014 Itasca with a Norcold 4 door refer. According to the Norcold site, it draws 1.9 amps and needs 108v AC to work. We have a garage with a 100 amp sub panel off the house that I wish to plug the MH's into with a wire buried underground and about 150ft long that will end near the MH's parking pad. The sub panel was installed because the previous homeowner used the garage as a large workshop with many big power eaters. I need power there to operate lights and power doors only, so have much excess capacity.

I am wanting to make sure I use a heavy enough gauge cable so not to have too much voltage drop with I'll say 300-400 watts draw using refer and trickle chargers? 12 or maybe 10 gauge wire? I don't know the formula to calculate voltage drop over 150ft. Thx!

[hanko]

All the two wire hook up three wire F ups' please your two cents

[hanko]

All the two wire hook up three wire F ups' please your two cents

[georgelesley]

Just a note to let all know the project mentioned in this thread is now complete. I used 10 ga in the end. No load I get about 122 v. A?Con and refrig about 112v. Very happy. I had the A/C on a few days ago getting ready for the trip we are now on. I think I could run both A/C but have no need to. Could also convert circuit to 30 amp since a separate 30 amp breaker is available and a box cig at the MH's end would do it. Do not see a need to do that now.

[Kayteg1]

Where is that obsession with voltage drop coming from?
I own 2 hp contractor grade air compressor that I used quite a bit when I worked the trade.
Most of the time the thing would run whole day on 100 feet of 16gauge extension cord.
It is unique motor as I could run it on 10 amp breaker, but still we are talking hard working 2 hp motor.

[MountainAir05]

The link that Dennis gave you will be a start. As others have posted, your 150+ foot run is going to lose a lot. Have your license electrician give you his gauge needed, not you telling him. Remember its your RV that is going to get smoked. If you wire it for just the refrigerator and someone turns on the AC then kiss the AC motors good by if it does not blow the breaker. They will over heat. As others stated, wire it for the plug on the RV , then if you are not around and someone else turns on something, then all is well.

http://www.cerrowire.com/voltage-drop-table

[Dale_Traveling]

I would wire up for a minimum of full 30 amps at no less than 115 VAC capability and 8 gauge just gets you in there while 6 would be better. You might not think you'll want or need it today but it will be nice to have if the need ever comes. Cost difference isn't as much as you might think to go with the heavier wire to gain the amps.

I have 30 amps wired to the driveway and it makes a great plug in for other stuff when I'm work outside. Lawn tools, power tools, drop lights what ever I need. My closest outlet other than coach power is 50 feet of so away.

[Kayteg1]

10forty2 wrote:
Seriously, it cost me about $250 to get and electrician to make a 70' run of wire from my panel box on one end of the house terminating with a 50amp RV outlet on the other end next to the driveway where I park my coach. Now, all I have to do is plug in and I can run everything in the RV anytime I want. Why not?

Digging 70' trench and running any piping: gas, water or electrical conduit in Bay Area usually ends with 5-digits quotes.
One sample is not making it universal.

[10forty2]

Seriously, it cost me about $250 to get and electrician to make a 70' run of wire from my panel box on one end of the house terminating with a 50amp RV outlet on the other end next to the driveway where I park my coach. Now, all I have to do is plug in and I can run everything in the RV anytime I want. Why not?

[wolfe10]

wa8yxm wrote:
Another thing.. In my last post I mentioned both 30 and 50 amp. If you have an electrician install an outlet off that sub panel.. Have him put in a 50 amp outlet.. They will do that right.

IF you have a pre-existing outlet in the 30-50 amp range for tools like welders and air compressors.. Very good chance if you plug in you will be sorry.. 50 amp service is 240 volt, FOUR WIRES,, Welders and Air Compressors and other heavy gear are 240 volt THREE wires.

In the RV world 3 wire outelts are 120 volt

plugging into a welder outlet lets the magic smoke out of your expensive electronics, and you can not easily put it back.

Correct.

RV 30 amp= one hot, one neutral, one ground

RV 50 amp= two hots (L1 and L2 with 240 VAC between them), one neutral and one ground

[wa8yxm]

Another thing.. In my last post I mentioned both 30 and 50 amp. If you have an electrician install an outlet off that sub panel.. Have him put in a 50 amp outlet.. They will do that right.

IF you have a pre-existing outlet in the 30-50 amp range for tools like welders and air compressors.. Very good chance if you plug in you will be sorry.. 50 amp service is 240 volt, FOUR WIRES,, Welders and Air Compressors and other heavy gear are 240 volt THREE wires.

In the RV world 3 wire outelts are 120 volt

plugging into a welder outlet lets the magic smoke out of your expensive electronics, and you can not easily put it back.

[wa8yxm]

If all you are running is that fridge.. 12ga will work just fine.. Get a cord from Sears or K-mart with the push button on the outlet.

In fact for 1.9 amps.. YOu coudl use a lot smaller.. but Id' still go with 12ga, why, because for anything you can plug into a standard wall outlet, that is one size larger than needed for up to 100 feet.
now if you want to run more (Say 30 or 50 amps) then you need bigger wire, 8ga would be good for 30 amps (What I used) I'd go bigger still for 50 (say six ga)

[MrWizard]

georgelesley wrote:


I am wanting to make sure I use a heavy enough gauge cable so not to have too much voltage drop with I'll say 300-400 watts draw using refer and trickle chargers? 12 or maybe 10 gauge wire? I don't know the formula to calculate voltage drop over 150ft. Thx!

No offense intended
But you are being naive, thinking you only need 300-400 Watts
Just the fridge on electric can draw that or more

The first time you walk out there in hot weather you will want the A/C
That's about 13 amps, then you will decide to work on something and want power tools

Bare minimum 10ga wire and a 20 amp circuit breaker
Yes 12 GA is rated at 20 amps
Err on the side of caution is better

Even better run some 8ga and a 30 amp RV outlet

[jhilley]

donn0128 wrote:
Remember, you need wire sized to match your MHs power cord. Is it 30 or 50A? Not only the refer, but converter, and everything else could get powered.

Not necessarily, just put in a breaker in the panel to match the wire size and load. 12 gauge 15 or 20 amp and 20 or 30 amp for 10 gauge. For 15 amp use a 15 amp receptacle, for 12 gauge 20 amp a 20 amp receptacle for 10guage a 30 amp RV receptacle.

[Kayteg1]

We all like to baby our toys, but come'on ???
#4 wire for running fridge and battery charger?
Those things are design to take voltage drops and I bet you will find lot of campgrounds with much lower voltage than in your case #12 wire will have.
Since you are going to put lot of labor to dig trench, run a conduit, I would put #10 wire so if in the future you want to ran 2 AC you will not have to do the job again, but come'on.